Jay Rosen of PressThink (the great media blog) has been writing about what a norgs-type newsite called NewAssignment.net would look like if it was independently funded to do investigative work, and of course I was intrigued by the idea. (Jay asked for people to submit story ideas, with one to be funded by Craig Newmark of Craig’s List.)

I was talking to Will Bunch about this the other day. I said I was trying to think of a story, but it was hard to come up with anything, because so much of what I’d like to do would be a closer, deeper look at breaking news, and that’s too hard to anticipate. “Really, what it would buy is time,” I said. “Being able to work a story and get paid for it would be nice. I hate not having enough time to dive into things.”

Well, apparently Jay was reading my mind. Here’s his response to some criticism of the idea from Kevin Many, the tech writer at USAToday:

An editor skilled in the network style can propose a story idea and argue for it with his crowd of users. It’s persuasion. Even with a user’s veto and the passions of the crowd, editors would find many ways of making sure their own sensibility comes through. I would expect the majority of subscribers would be to editors’ feeds. If they were regular visitors to NewAssignment.Net, they would visit their favorite editors’ blogs, where there is always something going on.

Think blogger with a war chest and a loyal readership that knows a lot stuff. They’re networked together in the way the site works. They read the news together and react to what’s missing.

Okay. Like what kind of blogger?

One of my favorite independent bloggers is Susie Madrak. (I haven’t asked her about any of this, but she likes NewAssignment.) She has a site called Suburban Guerilla. It’s linking and thinking on Left politics and culture with equal parts anger, beauty and wit.

A New Assignment editor might be someone like Susie. Except that it’s Suburban Guerilla with a war chest: Funds to spend on checking into stuff. She’s got a user friendly site that can handle big feats of collaboration. She’s got her network of correspondents who kick butt, get paid, and love what they do. She’s got a smart mob of users. She herself is being paid as an editor at NewAssignmemt.Net. It’s her party and every day she’s ready to journalize with you.

Yes, I’m rhapsodizing. Point is there’s no way Susie Madrak checks her vision or sensibility at the door, if she becomes a New Assignment editor. It’s the opposite, Kevin. Her unique angle on the world expands.

Good editors do a lot to shape the news, anyway. They know enough about a subject to steer it in the right direction, and if a reporter comes back with a story that indicates a shallow pass at a complex subject, the good editor sends them right back out with a list of questions for followup. (And again, if necessary.)

I really do miss getting paid to do this. Sigh…

Hey Mr. Zeigfeld, here I am….